Mirvish: Tony Danza, The Book of Mormon, among the stars of 2012-2013 season

At the announcement of Mirvish’s 2012-13 season in Toronto Monday morning, a surprised audience treated Tony Danza to raucous cheers when the actor appeared on stage.

The star of Who’s the Boss and Taxi talked about playing Tommy Korman in the world premiere of Honeymoon in Vegas, a musical based on the 1992 film of the same name.

“He’s a wiseguy in Vegas. When we first meet him, he’s lost his beloved wife. She was an extreme sunbather in Vegas and she died of skin cancer,” Danza, 60, told the crowd.

More than 1,500 people gathered at the Ed Mirvish Theatre downtown to hear about Mirvish’s upcoming lineup, which includes The Book of Mormon by the creators of South Park, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz and the Broadway comedy Sister Act.

Danza kicked off things with a bluesy ballad, with piano accompaniment by composer Jason Robert Brown. “When we’re young, we think that we’re invincible. We act like we know all there is to know. We pop our pills and smoke our dope and never realize that hope is just a visitor, a guest star in the show,” he sang. “I should have gotten her out of the sun. But she was beautiful beyond compare, roasting like a chicken in a chair … She wore no Coppertone, she wore no hat, the doctor swore they never saw skin look like that.”

After the announcement, Danza flitted from aisle to aisle, fielding media interviews and singing the song to himself. It was Brown’s score that attracted him to the show, which will open in Toronto this December before going to Broadway.

“I know this sounds hyperbole but I think it’s the best score I’ve heard since West Side Story,” he said in an interview. “I ran into Michael Feinstein — I hate to drop names. ‘Don’t drop names,’ Bobby De Niro told me that. Anyway, he was doing a show with Barbara Cook and she was going to get an award at the Kennedy Center and would I fill in?”

He accepted and performed six songs, including Out of the Sun from Honeymoon in Vegas, which was the crowd pleaser. “They screamed,” he said.

Much of Mirvish’s season can be described as crowd-pleasing, popular fare. The Book of Mormon, which won nine Tony Awards including best musical, arrives in Toronto in May 2013 direct from Broadway.

“In South Park, we do episodes about religion all of the time. It’s been some of our best material, pulling stuff from different religions,” said Anne Garefino, the executive producer for South Park and producer of The Book of Mormon. “I’m Catholic. I go to church every Sunday. If you can’t laugh about yourself, what’s the point?”

“They had done all of the Canadian jokes they possible could,” Robert Lopez added. Lopez, who created Avenue Q, a musical satire featuring puppets, co-wrote the book, music and lyrics for The Book of Mormon.

He met Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the brain trust behind South Park, when they came to see Avenue Q on Broadway. “Trey and Matt had this concept of actors, having lived in Hollywood for so long, that they’re these pretty, talentless people. Coming to New York and talking to people who have a skill, singing, dancing and acting, was eye-opening to them,” Lopez joked.

Mirvish’s eight-show season opens with Backbeat, which chronicles the birth of The Beatles, and is followed by La Cage Aux Folles starring George Hamilton as a nightclub owner and his partner and star attraction, played by Christopher Sieber.

Flashdance, which includes the hit songs Flashdance — What a Feeling and Maniac from the hit 1983 movie of the same name, will have its North American debut in August. Then Bloodless, a new Theatre 20 production, will mark performer Colm Wilkinson’s directorial debut.

With his hand covering one half of his face, the renowned tenor walked onto the stage where he appeared in The Phantom of the Opera for so many years. Bloodless by Winnipeg composer Joseph Aragon, tells the true story of two 19th-century Irish serial killers who sell corpses to anatomy schools.

For more information on Mirvish shows and the upcoming season, visit mirvish.com.